The TWA Flight Center or Trans World Flight Center, opened in 1962 as the original terminal designed by Eero Saarinen for Trans World Airlines at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Although portions of the original complex have been demolished, the Saarinen-designed head house has been renovated and is partially encircled by a replacement terminal building, which was completed in 2008. Together, the old and new buildings comprise JetBlue Airways' JFK operations and have been known collectively since 2008 as Terminal 5 or simply T5.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates JFK Airport, had once intended the TWA Flight Center as a ceremonial entrance to the replacement terminal and has since announced plans to convert the original head house into a hotel, to open in 2018. The construction on the new hotel began in August, 2016.[2]

Noted architect Robert A. M. Stern called the TWA Flight Center the "Grand Central of the jet age".[3] The pragmatic new encircling terminal has been called "hyper-efficient"[4] and a "monument to human throughput".[5]

The terminal was one of the first with enclosed passenger jetways,[7]closed circuit television, a central public address system, baggage carousels,[7] electronic schedule board and baggage scales, and the satellite clustering of gates away from the main terminal.[7] Food and beverage services included the Constellation Club, Lisbon Lounge, and Paris Café. However, as with many terminals designed before the advent of jumbo jets, increased passenger traffic and security issues, the design proved difficult to update as air travel evolved; terminal gates close to the street made centralized ticketing and security checkpoints difficult.[8]

The original terminal opened in 1962 as the original terminal designed by Eero Saarinen for Trans World Airlines at Idlewild Airport (now JFK Airport). Saarinen and his Detroit-based firm were commissioned in 1955 to design the TWA Flight Center.[9]

Saarinen, who projected a high patronage for the terminal, conceived the terminal to speed up processes. At the same time, the bird-shaped, emblematic construction featured a harmoniously coordinated interior and references to TWA’s corporate identity and thus served to convey the company’s image. Saarinen planned the appearance of the building from a purely formal perspective mainly to exploit market opportunities. Thus, the TWA Terminal represents an entirely different approach than the thin concrete shells constructed at the same time. The terminal was built to span a space with a minimum of material. Saarinen, who was known as an indefatigable architect, indicated to his client that he needed more time, then took another year to resolve the design.[6] The airline, with the support of Saarinen’s wife Aline, exploited the new market opportunity to carry out a most successful marketing campaign starting with the building's first public presentation on November 12, 1957.[10] The completed terminal was dedicated May 28, 1962,[11][12] the same year that Saarinen won the AIA Gold Medal posthumously, having died in 1961.

Following TWA's continued financial deterioration during the 1990s and the eventual sale of its assets to American Airlines, the terminal ended operations in October 2001.[14] The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) first proposed converting the head house into a restaurant or conference center, while encircling the existing building with one or possibly two new terminals. The concept received opposition from the Municipal Art Society (MAS) of New York, as well the architects Philip Johnson and Robert A.M. Stern.[15] The opposition suggested the building, which brought passengers into immediate view of the sky and aircraft beyond, would be "strangled" if wrapped by another terminal, and that wrapping the Saarinen head house with another terminal would not preserve the spirit of the building but would mummify it "like flies in amber."[15] Philip Johnson, speaking at the 2001 presentation, said of the proposal:

“

This building represents a new idea in 20th-century architecture, and yet we are willing to strangle it by enclosing it within another building. Imagine, tying a bird's wings up. This will make the building invisible. If you're going to strangle a building to death, you might as well tear it down.

As of 2008, JetBlue and PANYNJ had yet to complete renovation of the original Saarinen head house, and the building has stood empty while they decided what its future role should be. Early proposals included a conference center, an aviation museum, and a restaurant,[21] or a place to check in for flights departing from the newer JetBlue T5 building.[22] In April 2015, The Wall Street Journal reported that JetBlue and its partner, a hotel developer, were negotiating for the rights to turn the head house into a hotel.[23]

In September 2015, New York State governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed that the Saarinen building would be converted into a new on-site hotel for the airport's passengers. Construction began August 2016,[24] The hotel, scheduled to open in 2018, proposes 505 guest rooms, 40,000 square feet of meeting space, and an observation deck of 10,000 square feet.[25]

In December 2005, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) began construction of a new terminal facility for JetBlue Airways, which occupied the adjacent Terminal 6 and was the airport's fastest-growing carrier—behind and partially encircling Saarinen's original gull-winged building (also known as the head house[20]). Peripheral portions of the original facility were demolished to make space for a mostly new 625,000-square-foot (58,100 m2) facility designed by Gensler, including 26 gates to accommodate 250 flights per day[26] and 20 million passengers annually.[27] Originally, there were also tentative plans to renovate another portion of the original facility, a salvaged portion of the departure lounges known as The Trumpet,[21] dating from the Roche-Dinkeloo Flight Wing One addition in 1969. During the construction of the new, Gensler-designed terminal, The Trumpet was lifted and moved 1500 feet[28] at a cost of $895,000,[21] only to be later demolished when the project's budget prioritized renovating the head house.[20]

T5 reopened on October 22, 2008,[29] with JetBlue using an abstraction of the Saarinen terminal's gull-wing shape as the official logo for the event, an abstraction of the new terminal floor plan for the signage[20][30] and counting down the reopening via Twitter.[31] The new terminal features a 55,000-square-foot (5,100 m2) retail area with 22 food concessions and 35 specialty retail stores[26] along with free wireless Internet access, a children’s play area and a 1,500-space parking garage.[31] As the first airline terminal at JFK designed after the September 11, 2001, attacks,[4][32] the new T5 now contains 20 security lanes, one of the largest checkpoints in a US airline terminal. The entry hall of the Gensler terminal wraps around the Saarinen head house in a crescent shape[20] and retains the original, iconic departure-arrival passenger tubes from the head house (Tube #1 from the 1962 Saarinen design and Tube #2 from the 1969 Roche-Dinkeloo-designed Flight Wing One).[33]

While noted architect Robert A. M. Stern had called the evocative Saarinen-designed TWA Flight Center "Grand Central of the jet age",[3] the pragmatic new encircling terminal has been called "hyper-efficient"[4] and a "monument to human throughput".[5]

^Peterson, Barbara. "TWA Terminal Hotel Construction Begins at JFK". Conde Nast Traveler. Retrieved 17 November 2016. ...it’s official: Work has begun, and construction workers have been spotted at the site, along with a huge mound of earth piling up next to the iconic edifice (we’re told an official groundbreaking ceremony will be held soon.)